would these be considered honors courses?

[Kim in SouthGa]

Biology: Apologia Biology text as an outside class (retired private school teacher); going through Princeton Review SAT II prep book to take the SAT II test in June; science fair project; participation in 4H camp (2 days, 2 nights) jam-packed with classes which included shark and crawfish (I think) dissection

 

English: completion of SMARR Ancient English course (outside class taught by college English teacher)-read the following:

Moping Melancholy Mad: An Introduction to Poetry

The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Book of Job

Bulfinch`s Age of Fable (Greek and Roman Mythology)

A Midsummer Night`s Dream

Iliad

Selected Play of Euripides

Odyssey

Oresteia Trilogy

Oedipus Rex & Antigone

Poetics

Aeneid

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

wrote several lit analysis papers, three timed in class essays, 1 research paper

Also completed Easy Grammar Plus and VfCR B & C at home

 

History: History of the Ancient World by SWB with Josephus: the Essential Works and Tacitus, the Annals of Imperial Rome; also used DK History of the World and Timetables of History. He basically read HoAW and coordinating sections of DK and Timetables and wrote a summary or outline or notebook page from History Scholar. He also used the Knowledge Quest map program for Ancients. For Josephus and Tacitus he just read. If this is not honors level (which I suspect because not enough writing), what could I do to bump it up? He will be finishing it this summer. I have not required a lot of writing thus far b/c of the lit class, but it will be over tomorrow!

 

Whew! if you made it to the end, :cheers2:

Thanks for any input. And honors get a .5 added to point, right? so 4.5 for an A? Are they still just 1.0 credit?

Thanks!

Edited May 19, 2011 by Kim in SouthGa
forgot something

[Murphy101]

It looks like a solid program though I wouldn't give it honors.:)

[Susan C.]

I disagree. With the criteria I have for honors (from my homeschool association), each class is. I have talked with dd's friends in public high school, and if we have done at least what they do for honors, I give it. It isn't fair to downgrade our homeschool kids, especially when scholarships are at risk.

 

For the biology, there is a large project and camp participation. For English, there are many literary analysis papers, along with a large number of books read. For history, there was a large amount of reading, and the project is summaries/outlines from History Scholar.

[Elizabeth in WA]

It looks like a solid program though I wouldn't give it honors.:)

 

:iagree:

[Kim in SouthGa]

just curious for those who do not think it is honors worthy-what would need to be added/changed? would like to implement changes for next year since we are basically on the same course, just different subject (chemistry, medieval time period)

thanks

[Jane in NC]

just curious for those who do not think it is honors worthy-what would need to be added/changed? would like to implement changes for next year since we are basically on the same course, just different subject (chemistry, medieval time period)

thanks

 

Honors is a relative term which some of us have a hard time using in our home schools. Honors is often used in the traditional setting to distinguish a course from a standard one. My homeschool had no standard courses--only honors.

 

Obviously, you should do what you feel comfortable doing. Be forewarned though that college admissions offices may alter that GPA to a standard 4.0 scale. To them, "honors" may not have much meaning.

[Kim in SouthGa]

Jane,

Did you list everything as an honors course on the transcript? If so, how did colleges react to that? Did they feel you were "padding" the transcript or remove gpa weighting?

Thanks

[Susan C.]

Our honors GPA was used to figure ranking for high school. The college ds went to did change all to 4 point As.

[Jane in NC]

Jane,

Did you list everything as an honors course on the transcript? If so, how did colleges react to that? Did they feel you were "padding" the transcript or remove gpa weighting?

Thanks

 

No honors on the transcript. Sorry I was not clear. My point was to say that my standard courses were probably honors level to others. We used college text books, for example, and reading lists of Great Books from TWTM. This was standard stuff for my home school.

 

Since honors is relative, I had no course that was less than this.

 

For example, my son's geometry course was proof and construction oriented. He also did some Euclid and read a book for non-math people on topology. Content-wise, this went beyond what a standard high school geometry course looks like. But I only offer this geometry--no other. So how can I distinguish between standard level and honors level for my homeschool?

 

My son's transcript listed basic coursework done at home, CC courses and an online AP course. The online course had approval from the College Board so I called it AP. The other courses in which my son took AP exams were listed as basic coursework done at home. In a side box, I gave the AP score for the related exam. No honors.

 

Am I making sense?

[regentrude]

I was under the impression (from reading a lot here on this forum) that colleges do not give a hoot for an "honors" designation of a class on a transcript, but simply disregard it and do NOT weight the credit.

Did I get that wrong?

[Kim in SouthGa]

OK, then what would be the best way to appropriately note the rigor of the class? I am especially thinking of the Lit class-my nephew read almost the exact same list his senior year of college. This class is taught by a college English teacher, and she has made it tough! I feel like my son worked harder than just a single credit, but not enough to have a separate credit for English and Lit. Can I give him 1.5 credits for the class? Should I just not worry about it and hope the attached reading list is enough ( I envision admission officers looking at transcripts and putting them in yes or no piles without ever looking at the attached descriptions;)). Take an AP test or SAT II test at some point to back it up? The same teacher has agreed to teach the next time period for us in the fall.

My son is looking at competitive colleges such as Patrick Henry and Georgetown, so I want to make sure I am doing this right.

thanks for all your help!

[Jane in NC]

OK, then what would be the best way to appropriately note the rigor of the class? I am especially thinking of the Lit class-my nephew read almost the exact same list his senior year of college. This class is taught by a college English teacher, and she has made it tough! I feel like my son worked harder than just a single credit, but not enough to have a separate credit for English and Lit. Can I give him 1.5 credits for the class? Should I just not worry about it and hope the attached reading list is enough ( I envision admission officers looking at transcripts and putting them in yes or no piles without ever looking at the attached descriptions;)). Take an AP test or SAT II test at some point to back it up? The same teacher has agreed to teach the next time period for us in the fall.

My son is looking at competitive colleges such as Patrick Henry and Georgetown, so I want to make sure I am doing this right.

thanks for all your help!

 

Your school profile provides one opportunity to describe the rigor and philosophy of your home school. I also wrote an eight page class description document in which I included a book list. Further, the instructor for the Literature course may be a source for a letter of recommendation--another opportunity to discuss the rigor of coursework.

 

I glanced over at the Georgetown Admissions page where I noted:

 

SAT Subject Tests

 

It is strongly recommended that all candidates, whether they have taken the SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT, submit three SAT Subject Tests scores. The scores from writing portion on the SAT Reasoning Test and the optional writing portion of the ACT will not be used in place of a Subject Test.

[Kim in SouthGa]

Yes, I saw that and we are hoping to do Biology, Spanish, and Literature. Maybe World or American History. I thought that would be a good mix across the board. Math is his weakest subject, so I'm not sure how to best approach that. Maybe let him take College Algebra dual enrollment? even if they don't accept the credit, just to give some validity to the transcript.

 

He is also interested in Florida State. This is from their website:

The typical student accepted to Florida State has 4.5 units of English, 5 units of math, 4.5 units of natural science, 4.5 units of social science, and 3.5 units of foreign language.

 

I don't even know how we could get 5 units of math. And what would be a .5 English credit? WOuld Logic count for this? Would health count for the extra .5 credit of science (he took this as a coop class and it was great-they did CPR certification and dissected a heart).

 

I'm really wondering about giving him 1.5 credits for English this year instead of marking it honors. He has easily spent the required hours for that-not every day, but when papers were due sometimes he would work on them 2 hours a day or more for a week. And lots and lots of time reading. And watching a performance of Julius Caesar.

 

Thanks for discussing this with me! It is a huge help to work it out with others. Most of my IRL friends have done the typical Abeka or Sonlight course load or are just starting the high school process and don't know any more than I do!

[Virg]

:bigear:

[Nan in Mass]

Are they counting algebra 1 taken in 8th grade? That would mean that many students had 5 credits of math on their transcript. My high school had semester-long electives for 11th and 12th grade English, things like speech, drama, philosophy in literature, expository writing, and poetry, so some students took more than 4. That would account for the more than 4 credits of English. Perhaps some of the students double up on science so they can fit in two advanced sciences? Just guessing, but it seems like those things might be a possiblility.

-Nan

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

Yes, I saw that and we are hoping to do Biology, Spanish, and Literature. Maybe World or American History. I thought that would be a good mix across the board. Math is his weakest subject, so I'm not sure how to best approach that. Maybe let him take College Algebra dual enrollment? even if they don't accept the credit, just to give some validity to the transcript.

 

He is also interested in Florida State. This is from their website:

The typical student accepted to Florida State has 4.5 units of English, 5 units of math, 4.5 units of natural science, 4.5 units of social science, and 3.5 units of foreign language.

 

I don't even know how we could get 5 units of math. And what would be a .5 English credit? WOuld Logic count for this? Would health count for the extra .5 credit of science (he took this as a coop class and it was great-they did CPR certification and dissected a heart).

 

I'm really wondering about giving him 1.5 credits for English this year instead of marking it honors. He has easily spent the required hours for that-not every day, but when papers were due sometimes he would work on them 2 hours a day or more for a week. And lots and lots of time reading. And watching a performance of Julius Caesar.

 

Thanks for discussing this with me! It is a huge help to work it out with others. Most of my IRL friends have done the typical Abeka or Sonlight course load or are just starting the high school process and don't know any more than I do!

Wouldn't Consumer Math count? You could also do some less traditional math courses like AoPS's Counting & Probability and Number Theory (each intro course is worth .5 credits). They could be taken at the same time as any of the traditional math courses to add 1 credit.

 

ETA that we are doing a first aid course using a college text next year (the same year we do anatomy and physiology); something like that might count for a .5 science credit.

Edited May 20, 2011 by Cheryl in SoCal

[TravelingChris]

It totally depends on where your child is applying. I do weigh courses and I do assign some courses honors designation. Not all my courses, though. Why? Because none of my kids are doing advanced work in each and every class, only some. So I generally give an honors designation if a class is taken at a level above (so my senior took a class in ninth grade that had all the other students in eleventh and twelfth grades and then she did extra work so yes an honors designation was appropriate). But she took world history this year and did no extra work- no honors. She also didn't receive any honors in math and science since she was working at the normal level in them.

 

I have no idea which colleges took what grades- they generally say they have their own formula which may mean only core classes, may mean no weighing, may mean some weighing, who knows?